Michael McMillan v. Department of Conservation and Recreation (SPR 20171699)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords December 13, 2017 SPR17/1699 Bridget Connelly, Esq. Assistant General Counsel 251 Causeway Street Suite 600 Boston, MA 02114 Attorney Connelly: I have received the petition from Michael McMillan appealing the nonresponse of the Department of Conservation and Recreation (Department) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § lOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, Mr. McMillan requested "the reasons why motorized vehicles are banned from Boxford State Forest and Georgetown State Forest." Having received no response, Mr. McMillan petitioned this office. Under the Public Records Law and the Access Regulations (Regulations) all requests for public records must be met with a response within ten business days ofreceipt of the request. G. L. c. 66, § 10( a )-(b ). The response may contain, among other things, an offer to provide records, a fee estimate for provision of the records, or a denial. G. L. c. 66, § 1O (b ). All records custodians must comply with both the Public Records Law and the Regulations with respect to the timeliness of response. Subsequent to the intervention by a member of the Public Records Division, this office was notified that you are in the process of fulfilling Mr. McMillan's request. Whereas this matter was opened based upon the Department's failure to provide a written response, I will now consider this administrative appeal closed. Mr. McMillan may appeal the substantive nature of the Department's response within ninety days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Sincerely, ~urr~ Supervisor of Records cc: Michael McMillan One Ashburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 • (617) 727-2832• Fax: (617) 727-5914 sec.state.ma.us/pre• pre@sec.state.ma.us